And pierced by means of those whetted arrows resembling
flames of fire those steeds suddenly reared themselves,
and in consequence Kripa reeled off his place.
And seeing Gautama thrown off his place, the slayer
of hostile heroes, the descendant of the Kuru race,
out of regard for his opponent’s dignity, ceased
to discharge his shafts at him. Then regaining
his proper place, Gautama quickly pierced Savyasachin
with ten arrows furnished with feathers of the Kanka
bird. Then with a crescent-shaped arrow of keen
edge, Partha cut off Kripa’s bow and leathern
fences. And soon Partha cut off Kripa’s
coat of mail also by means of arrows capable of penetrating
the very vitals, but he did not wound his person.
And divested of his coat of mail, his body resembled
that of a serpent which hath in season cast off its
slough. And as soon as his bow had been cut off
by Partha, Gautama took up another and stringed it
in a trice. And strange to say, that bow of him
was also cut off by Kunti’s son, by means of
straight shafts. And in this way that slayer
of hostile heroes, the son of Pandu, cut off other
bows as soon as they were taken up, one after another,
by Saradwat’s son. And when all his bows
were thus cut off, that mighty hero hurled, from his
car, at Pandu’s son, a javelin like unto the
blazing thunderbolt. Thereupon, as the gold-decked
javelin came whizzing through the air with the flash
of a meteor, Arjuna cut it off by means of ten arrows.
And beholding his dart thus cut off by the intelligent
Arjuna, Kripa quickly took up another bow and almost
simultaneously shot a number of crescent-shaped arrows.
Partha, however, quickly cut them into fragments by
means of ten keen-edged shafts, and endued with great
energy, the son of Pritha then, inflamed with wrath
on the field of battle, discharged three and ten arrows
whetted on stone and resembling flames of fire.
And with one of these he cut off the yoke of his adversary’s
car, and with four pierced his four steeds, and with
the sixth he severed the head of his antagonist’s
car-driver from off his body. And with three that
mighty car-warrior pierced, in that encounter, the
triple bamboo-pole of Kripa’s car and with two,
its wheels. And with the twelfth arrow he cut
off Kripa’s flagstaff. And with the thirteenth
Phalguna, who was like Indra himself as if smiling
in derision, pierced Kripa in the breast. Then
with his bow cut off, his car broken, his steeds slain,
his car-driver killed, Kripa leapt down and taking
up a mace quickly hurled it at Arjuna. But that
heavy and polished mace hurled by Kripa was sent back
along its course, struck by means of Arjuna’s
arrows. And then the warriors (of Kripa’s
division), desirous of rescuing the wrathful son of
Saradwat encountered Partha from all sides and covered
him with their arrows. Then the son of Virata,
turning the steed to the left began to perform circuitous
evolution called Yamaka and thus withstood all
those warriors. And those illustrious bulls among
men, taking Kripa with them who had been deprived
of his car, led him away from the vicinity of Dhananjaya,
the son of Kunti.”